Even though I haven’t really discussed it in this space, I watched LOST. I saw every episode through season 5 at least twice, and watched all of Season 6 exactly once.
So if you don’t know or care about LOST — or don’t want to be spoiled on the ending! — DO NOT read any further! Again, SPOILER ALERT! (You have been warned.)
You get into the Zipcar and it smells like weed.
I would be remiss to fail to write about this: On Sunday, I personally witnessed the 19th perfect game ever pitched in the 135 years of Major League Baseball history. It was phenomenal.
I was one of about 12,000 people who were privileged to be there when Dallas Braden, starting pitcher for the Oakland A’s, faced 27 Tampa Bay Rays and retired them all in succession, while the A’s offense delivered more than enough to win. (What a way to rebut the total lack of respect he got from Alex “A-Fraud” Rodriguez in just the last couple weeks.)
This after seeing the A’s win on Saturday, and then riding with Scott and Chris to Sacramento, where we saw the A’s AAA affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats, absolutely demolish the Colorado Sky Sox, 16-5. (And that following an awesome Crisis Hopkins show Friday night.)
What a weekend.
More about the perfect game: I didn’t notice that Braden was pitching a no-hitter (much less a perfect game) until the friendly fellow A’s fan next to me mentioned it in the 6th. I was marginally annoyed that he would fly in the face of superstition so boldly (you don’t mention the no-hitter before it’s over!) but it did color my experience of the next three innings.
Oh, my. Just visit:
http://onemorelevel.com/game/super_mario_crossover
It’s a Flash version of the classic Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo, except that you can play as Mega Man, the guy from Contra, Samus from Metroid, etc. etc. It really works.
Note (to all, including self): do not play at work.
I’ve had this page open in a tab for a couple of weeks now and want to get rid of it, so I’m blogging it for posterity (and because it’s amusing, at least to me).
In 1997, the Packers played a preseason game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. (I lived there at the time, but this story has nothing to do with me.) Turns out one guy went to the stadium just to see if he could sneak in, after having heard of people sneaking into the Super Bowl.
Well, he made it, and the rest of the story is pretty funny. Check out Scott Schiller’s Packers Adventure.
To all the oil companies out there with a world to impress
It’s easy to do, just follow these steps:
And that’s the way you do it….
Thank you for randomly clicking on my name. (Perhaps you enjoyed my Gravatar.)
WordPress is great, isn’t it? It allows me to blather inanely about a wide variety of topics without having to upload an HTML file in an FTP program every time I get the urge to write. (That’s how this site used to work.)
Anyway, enjoy your visit.
We’ve all heard the New Age-y proverb about the Chinese word for “crisis” being a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” (I just ran across the canard in the 2001 CLCV Scorecard [good luck finding it online; it seems to be long gone] and my skepticism was immediately piqued.)
According to a Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, it’s pretty much bullshit.
On his web page entitled “danger + opportunity ≠ crisis,” Professor Victor H. Mair writes:
The explication of the Chinese word for crisis as made up of two components signifying danger and opportunity is due partly to wishful thinking, but mainly to a fundamental misunderstanding about how terms are formed in Mandarin and other Sinitic languages. For example, one of the most popular websites centered on this mistaken notion about the Chinese word for crisis explains: “The top part of the Chinese Ideogram for ‘Crisis’ is the symbol for ‘Danger’: The bottom symbol represents ‘Opportunity’.”
He goes on to explain the three fatal errors in this misconception:
Either a brilliant destiny awaits California, or one the most sordid and degraded.
—Governor Peter Burnett, first governor of California, 1849 inaugural address.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said (or thought to myself) “I swear I have a 25-hour internal clock” or “My internal clock is just behind everyone else’s.”
So of course when I saw a New York Times blog entry called “Sleeping (or Not) by the Wrong Clock,” I was compelled to read it.
It was written by Michael Terman, a professor of clinical psychology who directs the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center, where they seem to be doing some pretty great research. I guess light therapy isn’t exactly a new idea, but they seem to be gradually refining their knowledge, the way scientists do.
The thing that was news to me is that one’s circadian rhythms aren’t necessarily permanent — the skillful and individualized application of light therapy can change them. I don’t know if I’m going to try that, but it’s interesting to know I could.
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén
